The quake killed two people and left over 100 stranded on Mount Kinabalu - a
sacred mountain where five Westerners angered locals by posing naked for
photos at the summit

Three Britons were thought to be among 137 climbers trying to make their way down a Borneo mountain on Friday night, after being stranded when an earthquake triggered a rock fall.

Two people died in the aftermath, and 11 were injured, Malaysian media said. One of the victims was reported to be a 12-year-old Singaporean girl; the other was a local guide. Singapore’s foreign ministry said it believed 100 Singaporeans were on the mountain at the time of the 7.15am earthquake, and that the majority were accounted for.

“We get information from different kinds of sources. Children are missing, teachers are missing and the extent of injuries are actually not what we are told,” said Sadri Farick, 37, whose son Emyr Uzayr suffered leg injuries and has been rescued.

“We got news from one of the boys that there are boulders dropping and they’ve been cut off. I’m very upset by information and resources that we’re getting. We just hope the kids are brought back,” he said.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake occurred in Malaysia's Sabah state on North Borneo early Friday morning

James Ho, whose daughter is missing, said the authorities in Singapore were not doing enough to update the parents.

“For 12 hours all we see are teachers and principal comforting us, and giving us food. But beyond the school we are not seeing any help,” he said. “Most parents here have been here since early morning. We hope some help us being sent to Mount Kinabalu.”

The quake near Mount Kinabalu was strong enough to snap one of the famous “donkey ears” at the summit of the 13,435-foot mountain, and send boulders crashing down. Registering 6.0 on the Richter Scale, the earthquake felt “as if a truck had crashed into a brick wall,” said Colin Forsythe, who lives in Kota Kinabalu, the nearby coastal city. Helicopters were unable to land because of bad weather and the altitude of the mountain - the highest between the Himalayas and New Guinea.

Last week five Western male tourists stripped naked to pose for photographs near the summit – angering local residents, who believe the mountain is sacred. Many people in the region saw the quake as the mountain’s retribution.

“The nude tourists on Mount Kinabalu and the earthquake issue,” said one girl from Sabah.

“To the nude climbers of Mount Kinabalu I hope you will live in regret,” said another man, from Singapore.

Footage shot by the kitchen staff of the Laban Rata guesthouse – a mountain lodge used by climbers – showed an avalanche hurtling down towards them. It appeared to miss the building, however.

Thousands of people complete the relatively easy two day, one night climb of Mount Kinabalu each year – drawn to the Unesco World Heritage Site by the abundance of wildlife and plant species. The granite mountain in the Sabah is famed for its wide range of habitats – from rich tropical rainforest, to mountain forests and scrub on the higher elevations.

Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Sabah police chief, confirmed two fatalities. The injured climbers had been brought down the mountain last night, while the rest of the climbers were cautiously trying to descend with the help of park rangers and guides. Jamili Nais, director of Sabah Parks, said some were expected to reach the base camp by early Saturday.

The quake also damaged roads and buildings, including schools and a hospital on Sabah’s west coast.